John Watson was disabled and chronically ill. Between the pain his injuries continued to cause him for the rest of his life, a condition that sometimes left him unable to do more than lounge on the sofa for the whole day, and the ravages his subsequent case of typhoid caused his health was in his own words “permanently ruined”.
Which is turn means that he will never get back to his pre state, he never fully recovered. He had decent days where he could go about his life more or less like normal, but he’d likely need more frequent breaks than before. And then there were days where even just getting out of bed and getting dressed almost felt like more than he could manage.
In addition to this chronic pain is an inconsistent and unpredictable condition. While some things like cold and damp weather or overexerting yourself are almost certain to make matters worse, some days your body messes with your “just because”. There’s no real rhyme or reason to it and you can only take so many precautions.
Not to mention that it’s exhausting. The pain alone is tiring but even when it is well managed it often leaves you feeling drained and your brain being foggy and incoherent.
Finally it screws with your perception of pain. For most people the normal amount of pain is zero, but for someone with chronic pain it’s a 2 or a 3 or more. And that’s just the way it is. So when something hurts and how much it hurts is very different.
And this is his life from before he even turns 30. Chronic illness and disability is hard to learn to live with at any age, but when you’re relatively young it becomes even harder. He’s clearly not a man given to complaining and he tends to put others first, but is it any wonder he’s in such a dismal state when he meets Holmes?
This also answers I think why Watson put up with Holmes’ mood swings and temper, because Watson had mood swings and a temper of his own. There’d be days where all he can manage would be curt words because he has no energy for being polite and though he never says it openly, because perhaps he’s a bit embarrassed about it, it can be clearly inferred from the stories that Holmes looked after him as much as he looked after Holmes.
Watson would hate to feel like a burden or like he couldn’t manage on his own, but Holmes never treats him as that or as ‘less than’ nor does he appear to view him with pity. So is it any wonder Watson took to that odd and erratic man as passionately as he did?
